Making a 5 frame nuc?

[jaseemtp]

So I am looking at making a 5 frame nuc with a newly purchased queen.  Am I correct in thinking that two frames of bees / brood would be sufficent to get them started?  I will be feeding the 1:1 syrup since I do not have stores of honey to give them.
Jason

[Tommyt]

I say Yes, keep in mind its still considered weak, but IMO doable, be sure too reduce the entrance down to
1/2" or so,and keep syrup on them as long as they will take it.
Check in about 2 weeks if all is going well you can open the entrance more.
also If they start jamming the entrance a good sign to open a even more or earlier
that should be good till they get  all 5 drawn out.
Now your in the Bee business :-D
Good Luck

Tommyt

[Finski]

.
2 frames bees and brood is very slow start to the laying queen.
How old brood? If two frames are emerging that is a good idea. If they emerge after a week or late, that is not good.

[jaseemtp]

one full frame front and back is capped brood, the other frame is 1/2 capped and open brood. I also should add I have two trap outs in progress and Im thinkig of adding the bees from there to the nuc.

[Tommyt]

I was thinking thats all you had and had an extra  queen with nothing to do with her
Yes I would add bees every chance you get

Good luck

Tommyt

[Bee-Bop]

A five frame Nuc box sure isn't going to last you long, [ maybe a few weeks ] Why not put them in a 8-10 frame hive which ever you use, and let them be at home ?

Sorry I miss read your intenions !!
You have a Queen and are trying to stretch out a split from a weak hive ??

Bee-Bop

[Finski]

.
Let's look your plan: you put two frames bees into the nuc. It is not 5-frame nuc. It is 2-frame nuc.

How do you handle that nuc bees do not return their old home? So a big part of brood will die without care.

When you make a nuc, dont use larvae or young capped brood. They only block the nuc queen laying.

You get no advantage from a new queen when you start with minimum bee number.


Difficult to know when I do not know what is your main hive.

[jaseemtp]

OK, im sorry for any confusion
I have a few 8 frame medium hives going, they are only 2 months old and were started from packages.
They hives have been looking pretty good and have bees covering 7 frames easy.  I have done some cut outs and swarm captures and one of them was queenless.  I chose to error on the safe side and ordered two queens, just in case something happened or I got lucky and could get another removal.  Turns out both queens arrived quickly and looked wonderful but I was not able to do anymore removals that could spare bees to give to the new "extra" queen.
So I figured I would give it a shot and put her in a 5 frame nuc box, I pulled two frames with a mix of capped and opened brood.  I did shake some extra bees in the box along with the bees that were on the brood. 
OK, so the 5 frame nuc has 2 frames of open / capped brood, and three frames of foundation.  They are being feed 1:1 syrup and a very small amount of honey b healthy pollen sub. 
To keep the bees from returning to their old hive I closed the entrance down to one bee space and the blocked it with a few pieces of grass, I forgot where I read it but my understaning is if the entrance is obstructed they will reorient when they get out.  Anyways I hope that helped clear it up.
Jason

[iddee]

Quote on Apr. 28, three days ago.......

""So Im wondering how successful I will be.  I had a frantic call about a hive in a very large oak tree.  I can not cut the tree down and found only one entrance / exit to the hive.  I put up a screen cone and set a 5 frame nuc box next to the end of the cone.  Now be mindful this is about 10 feet off the ground so it was a  bit of a challenge to get this all together. I do not have any brood / eggs to spare to put in this nuc. 

Those hives must be building up at lightening speed.

Why not just use the nuc as the catch box on the trapout? They will take up peacefully and it will increase the size quickly.

[jaseemtp]

I guess I should rephase not having the brood / eggs to spare.  I felt I did not have the brood / eggs to lose, or let die in the swarm trap trying to catch bees and the chance it didnt work. I also ended up with alot of frames of brood / eggs that I feel comfortable taking a gamble with since they were "free"
On the trap out would those bees move in with a different queen in there?

[Michael Bush]

A frame of brood and a frame of honey is great to bank a queen.  But if you want it to build up it needs to be much stronger.  "Critical Mass" is pretty much the equivalent of ten deep frames of bees, brood, honey etc. where they can build up very quickly.

[iddee]

I have placed weak nucs on trapouts and the trapped bees took up with it just fine.

[Finski]

.
Now, when you explainen the whole figure, you have done and thought wisely. Gratulations.

Your prime hive is 8 mediums. It is under critical size of minimum hive, like Michael tells.
But when you are ready to get new swarms, the plan is good.

As you see, you founded the hive 2 months ago, build up of small colony is very slow.

My hives are started here after a bad winter. Some colonies are near dead out. Some have one Langstroth box full of brood. A new generation has just begun to emerge.

I take a frame of emerging brood from big hives to small hives. If I take too much brood from a big hive, its build up will be slow. And I will spoil the boath hives.

Texas has summer and you feed syrup. It is not good idea. It does not fasten the build up of tiny colony. It makes controversy.